Concussion and the severity of head impacts in mixed martial arts
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2020Access:
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Doherty, Colin, Campbell, Matthew et all. 'Concussion and the severity of head impacts in mixed martial arts.', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part H, Journal of engineering in medicine, 2020, 234Download Item:
Abstract:
Background: Concern about the consequences of head impacts in US football motivated
researchers to investigate and develop instrumentation to measure the severity of these impacts.
However, the severity of head impacts in unhelmeted sports is largely unknown as miniaturised
sensor technology has only recently made it possible to measure these impacts in vivo.
Aim: The objective of this study was to measure the linear and angular head accelerations in impacts
in mixed martial arts (MMA), and correlate these with concussive injuries.
Methods: Thirteen MMA fighters were fitted with the Stanford instrumented mouthguard
(MiG2.0). The mouthguard records linear acceleration and angular velocity in 6 degrees of freedom.
Angular acceleration was calculated by differentiation. All events were video recorded, time
stamped and reported impacts confirmed.
Results: 451 verified head impacts above 10g were recorded during 19 sparring events (n=298) and
11 competitive events (n=153). The average resultant linear acceleration was 38.0g ± 24.3g while
the average resultant angular acceleration was 2567 ± 1739rad/s2. The competitive bouts resulted
in five concussions being diagnosed by a medical doctor. The average resultant acceleration (of the
impact with the highest angular acceleration) in these bouts was 86.7 ± 18.7g and 7561 ±
3438rads/s2. The average maximum Head Impact Power (HIP) was 20.6kW in the case of
concussion and 7.15kW for the uninjured athletes.
Conclusion: The study recorded novel data for sub-concussive and concussive impacts. Events that
resulted in a concussion had an average maximum angular acceleration that was 24.7% higher and
an average maximum HIP that was 189% higher than events where there was no injury. The findings
are significant in understanding the human tolerance to short-duration, high linear and angular
accelerations
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Author: Doherty, Colin; Campbell, Matthew
Type of material:
Journal ArticleCollections:
Series/Report no:
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part H, Journal of engineering in medicine;234;
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Full text availableKeywords:
mTBI,, Concussion, Mixed Martial Arts, Mild traumatic brain injury, Linear acceleration, Angular accelerationSubject (TCD):
NeuroscienceDOI:
https://doi.org/10.1177/0954411920947850Licences: